Chickory and pear salad (GF) (V) (EF)

For those of you who don't live in the UK, 'Chickory' is also known as 'Endive' or 'Witlof'. I tried it for the first time some days ago. It has a really nice crunch to it that you'd expect from iceberg lettuce, but it has a slightly bitter taste so having it with pears adds a really nice sweet contrast that works well with it. I've seen a similar recipe on TV where they use roquefort, but I dislike blue cheese so I used goats cheese instead. They also put mustard in the dressing but I didn't have any so left it out.

This dish should be served as soon as it's made; it doesn't keep well if you leave it to sit for a while. I recommend using a firm but sweet pear. I've given rough estimates of ingredients, but it's really worth tweaking it to your own taste. If you're about to eat something a bit rich such as quiche, then this would be a good side dish to serve with it.



Gluten Free
Vegetarian
Egg Free

1 head of Chickory (endive)
1 pear (preferably a firm forelle pear)
An apricot size chunk of soft goats cheese
A few crushed walnut halves
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar
A pinch of salt and black pepper

- Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, honey, cider vinegar, salt and pepper in a bowl to make a dressing

- Core and cut the pear into slices, then toss the pear slices in the dressing

- Cut the bottom end of the Chickory, separate the leaves, then rinse and dry them

- Arrange the Chickory leaves on a plate, then in each chickory leaf, place a slice of pear, half a crushed walnut and crumble a few small pieces of goats cheese over it and serve immediately